Automatic test equipment for checking printed circuit boards has long involved the use of “bed of nails” test fixtures on which the circuit board is mounted during testing. A typical test fixture includes a large number of mail-like spring-loaded test probes arranged to make electrical contact between measurement channels in the test equipment and designated test points on the circuit board under test, also referred to as the unit under test or “UUT”. Any particular circuit laid out on a circuit board is likely to be different from other circuits, and consequently, the arrangement of the test probes for contacting the respective test points on the circuit board must be specifically customized in a test fixture for that specific circuit board
The present invention relates to the testing of surface mounted connectors (SMC), which have been used increasingly on printed circuit boards. This invention has an array of probe pins that can easily contact the connectors of the SMC. The SMC contains an integrated circuit that must be tested while installed on the circuit board. This invention is mounted on a test plate located above a specific SMC. The test probe pins will contact a specific connector of the SMC when a vacuum is applied to a test fixture. The test fixture can be designed to accommodate more than one testing apparatus (i.e. the present invention).